Tennant pays visit to Martinsburg VA center

July 2, 2014

MARTINSBURG - Secretary of State Natalie Tennant's interest in the plight of state veterans receiving care at VA Medical Centers is nothing new - she originally penned a letter to the inspector general of the Department of Veterans Affairs back in May.

At that time, Tennant requested that VA medical centers in West Virginia be included as part of the "ongoing investigations into wait times alleged to have contributed to the harm, and even death, of American veterans."

While some perceive an investigation as a negative, Tennant said it's really an opportunity to acknowledge a facility's positives as well as its negatives - and making a commitment to work on those.

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Secretary of State Natalie Tennant

Tennant is no stranger to veterans or their issues since her late father, John, served in the Korean War, and her husband, Sen. Erik Wells, D-Kanawha, is in the U.S. Navy Reserves and in 2011 served an eight-month tour of duty in Afghanistan.

"I guess I do come at this from a special place because of my family being in the military. But I also feel that all of West Virginia is my family and we have to take care of them, especially those veterans who depend on the VA for their health care," she said.

After having met Martinsburg VA Medical Center director Tim Cooke a couple of weeks ago at the state VFW convention in Huntington, it didn't take Tennant long to take him up on his offer to tour the local facility.

As a result, Tennant spent part of Tuesday morning meeting with Cooke and other administrators, as well as talking with veterans as part of a walking tour at the medical center.

"It was a good visit, and something I felt I had to do because I've been deeply concerned about reports about how long it's been taking for our veterans to get the care they need - and deserve to receive," she said, recalling one veteran who was happy with the care he is receiving locally, although he'd also been treated at a VA in Gainesville, Florida.

"And when I met with the administrators, I was asking them how we got into this situation. We have many caring and professional healthcare workers, wonderful people who greet you with a smile, as well as lots of volunteers but the key is determining if this is a problem that can be fixed locally, since this seems to be a systemic issue," Tennant said.

Martinsburg VA employees are proud of their facility and already talking about "cultural transformation" after there are some answers about what is causing the wide-spread problems throughout the system, she said.

"I do agree that a cultural transformation is what needs to take place, perhaps it is better analysis of how we're treating patients or what to anticipate, because we're not serving the same kinds of veteran issues and illnesses that were being seen even 10 years ago," Tennant said.

The Martinsburg VA was flagged for additional review last month after a national audit showed thousands of veterans nationally were waiting too long for a first-time appointment.

None of the VA facilities in the state met the 14-day goal. Martinsburg, which had an average wait time of 47 days, is slated to be investigated by federal officials.